US Pensions accounting

Since David Zion's piece Analyzing the Impact of Retirement
Liabilities has pensions accounting under US GAAP for object, it is prima facie not relevant for the purposes of this blog. However, such a standpoint would clearly be too short sighted. Both the US FASB and the IASB are currently preparing to revise their respective pensions standards with a view to a converged standard, fully cognisant of the very large importance of pensions on the corporate balance sheet, and the potentially even more severe impact on its cash flow statement. I am sure that standard setters will read such scathing criticism from investors of the current standard very carefully, especially since most of the provisions addressed are common to both sets of standards.